Footnote of the Journey
by petes-winona
Summary: Not everything starts from fate (or coincidence) and rainbows and spice and saccharine trivia. Most of the time, everything starts from a little toughness to shame then to completely breaking down - until they all turn upside down and life is beautiful. Everything has imperfections, no one can commit the perfect crime, much less pave the way to utter perfection.


**_Disclaimer: Cover and FullMetal Alchemist Brotherhood are both, obviously, not mine. Both are rightfully owned by their respective creators._  
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**Prologue**

"What do you think?" I ask, setting my cup of coffee on my small coffee table.

He fiddles with the hem of his oversized red coat and sighs. "Think of what?"

Beside him, his brother's armors _clink_ asymmetrically as he shifts uncomfortably in my small couch. _Sorry, Al_, I silently say to him. _Sorry_ if my menial, implausible books never give much of a pay. Just…sorry.

I also exhale before sipping my hot, all black coffee. I like it bitter and hot. "The future. What both of you will do once you step out of my house – I mean, _my _apartment."

He looks at me incredulously, but his expression has an insinuated indolence to it, like he's tired of hearing this over and over. As if his features read, _Like, duh._ "We're going to get our bodies back."

I roll my eyes. Al is unusually quiet throughout this spur-of-the-moment, definitely stroppy conversation about their one true goal and how obviously difficult it is to fulfill it. Can't blame them, because from what he's confided me with, the sacrifice of human lives is the one main ingredient to getting it. "How?" I'm acting dumb because I am a sadist and I simply _love_ seeing Ed struggling to come up with an array of coherent, believable words.

_Clink_. And there goes Al's surreptitious look on me. Ed doesn't know Al's told me their complete life story, with complete details and that nostalgic yet disgusted undertone of Al's that is totally unbefitting him. I could have written a book for them if they wanted with all the information the younger Elric has drilled into my brain. If, that is. Oh how the unlikeliness of alchemy and the intrepidness of their lives make my hands want to start writing again.

Ed is the hardheaded one. Even when he stutters, he still voices out the convincing words he wants the both of us to hear. "I – _we_'ll find a way. We'll get our bodies back using our own means, what we believe is true, our own paths. It doesn't have to lead to bloodshed – and it doesn't have to start from there either." He looks at Al then. "Alphonse and I have made it this far, we're not going to back down now."

I raise my eyebrows at the bloodshed part, feigning sardonic surprise. "Bloodshed? And what makes you say that?"

Ed slaps his prosthetic hand forcefully on my poor coffee table. It leaves my cup of coffee rattling and the bitter liquid oscillating in its wake. He snaps, "Look, _Wilehlmia_, we're not here for an interrogation and you're definitely the least person to have the privilege to prod us with questions you aren't allowed to ask."

I calmly pick up my cup and menacingly command in a quiet, authoritative voice, "And _you_'re definitely the least person to have the privilege to snap at me in my home, which, if you haven't been informed yet, isn't a shabby drop-off for orphans, especially a State Alchemist. Don't they pay you higher than normal, Ed? Surely you've already got wads of cash in that coat of yours. You can stop the freeloading shit and leave now, thank you very much."

He blinks and I manage to stifle my own surprise. I didn't expect the words to come out _that_ harsh, like sharpened knives ready to pierce through Ed's thick, sensitive feelings. I'm nonplussed by what I've done. But I'm not known to be a humble person, so I suck it up and haughtily sip my coffee like it's a perfectly good evening. Like I didn't say they could leave, now that Ed's a State Alchemist and all. It's only been a day and a half – and they're not actually freeloading or anything and I fully understand because I know how it feels – and I am already attached to these two idiots, who are both on a weird league all on their own. I'm starting to warm up to Alphonse Elric, and maybe to Edward, too, but I've destroyed it with my excessively pessimistic mouth.

Ed stands up, his eyes shrouded with a strange shadow and his fringe suddenly looks longer. He walks past Al who's still sitting on my couch. He mutters, "Let's go, Alphonse."

"But, brother –"

"Let's _go_."

Al spares me one last glance but I don't dare stare back because of my pride _and_ shame. He says nothing in goodbye – wherever the 'good' in goodbye is now – and follows his brother out.

I sip my coffee again like it's a perfectly good evening, like I didn't push away two potentially important people out of my life before they could even start webbing theirs with mine. Like it's a normal day before the Elrics came.

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**_Merry Christmas, you all! Consider this a Christmas gift from me to all you. Yes, apparently, I've made another fic – and this time, it isn't a KuroBasu nor is it a Naruto fic – and I hope y'all accept it. Reviews are much appreciated. Please overwhelm me with them, I don't mind fainting. ;) Anyway, I know Ed took his State Alchemist test alone, but yeah. I twisted the story a bit (a lot in sooner chapters). And yes, obviously this story revolves around my OC – which I possibly cannot write without. What can I say? I'm just not me without my OCs._**

**_PS: I'll be replying to all your reviews (if you have one, that is…) in my author's notes, mmkay? So please flood me with all your reviews! Come at me, bruh!_**


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